• Korean journal of communication and information
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• v.56
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• pp.194-218
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• 2011

Focusing on the individuals' structural positions and roles in the internet discussion network, this research explores whether and how the opinion leaders' network characteristics are associated with the message quality and interpersonal influence in terms of attention-drawing and response-generation, which prior studies often failed to fully explicate. Findings suggest that discussion participants with high message quality occupy more central positions in the discussion network, thus enjoy more attention and responses of other following participants. However, opinion leader's network centralities, which tap the structural positions and unique roles in the online discussion network, systematically mediate the effect of the message quality on interpersonal influence. Moreover, significant interaction between opinion perception and network centrality was found only on the majority opinion group, rendering the entire discussion structure toward more enclaved deliberation and group polarization. Taken together, the results imply that the influence of the online opinion leader can only be substantiated with participant's central positions in the discussion network, which has been ignored by the prior opinion leadership research.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.225-232
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• 2021

Nowadays, opinion leaders influence the formation of public opinion on various issues in social network services. There has been a lack of research on the personal characteristics that inspire users to interact with opinion leaders and show intent to act. This paper verifies how the disposition of Facebook users' self-identity affects the quasi-social interaction with opinion leaders on Facebook and the intention to share information. As the perception and behavior of users on social media platforms differ depending on the type of issue, an online survey was conducted by classifying issue types into life culture and political sectors. Research found that personal identity had a significant positive effect on quasi-social interactions in the life culture and politics sectors, while group identity negatively affected quasi-social interactions. In addition, the intention to share information was confirmed to have a significant effect only in the life and culture areas of self-identity (social and group identity). Quasi-social interaction was confirmed to have a significant positive effect on all issue areas. The results of this study suggest the need to consider variations in opinion leader marketing strategies based on the types of self-identity of Facebook users in the future. In addition, the study shows that raising the level of quasi-social interaction at the corporate level without distinction of issue types can lead to effective results.